Information about Theodore De Bry

Theodore de Bry (1528 – 1598) was a Netherlandish goldsmith, engraver, draftsman and book editor and publisher who became famous most notably for his depictions of early European expeditions to the Americas. Theodore de Bry was born in 1528 in Liege, East of Belgium, to a family who had escaped the destruction of the City of Dinant in 1466 by the Duke of Burgondy, so-called Philip the Good. As a man he trained under his grand father, Thiry de Bry, as a goldsmith and engraver, engraving copper plates, which was the technology of that time required for printing images and drawings as part of books.

An engraving portrait of Theodorus de Bry, by himself, is available at: [1]

Around 1560, Theodore de Bry fled South, to Strasbourg along the Westbank of the Rhine. In 1577, when religious intolerance towards Calvinists increased, he moved to Antwerp in the Netherlands, where he developed his skills as a copper engraver. Between 1585 and 1588 he lived in London where he met geographer Richard Hakluyt and began to collect stories and illustrations of various European explorations, most notably from Jacques Le Moyne de Morgues. At that period his family moved permanently to Frankfurt-am-Main and when Theodore left London in 1588, he began to plan his first publications. The most famous one is known as "The America-series". He also published the largely identical "India Orientalis-series", as well as many nother illustrated works on a wide range of subjects. Many of his books appeared in both German and in the Latin language, in order to reach a broad and international readership.

In 1590 Theodore de Bry and his sons published a new, illustrated edition of Thomas Hariot's Brief and True Report of the new found Land of Virginia about the first English settlements in North America (in modern-day North Carolina). Its illustrations were based on the watercolor paintings of colonist John White. The book sold well and the next year De Bry published a new one about the first French attempts to colonize Florida. It had accounts of Jean Ribault and René de Laudonnière about the attempt to found the French colony of Fort Caroline and 43 illustrations based of paintings of Jacques Le Moyne de Morgues, one of the few survivors of Fort Caroline. Jacques de Moyne had planned to publish his account of his expeditions but died 1587. According to De Bry's account, he had bought de Moyne's paintings from his widow in London and used them as a basis for the engravings.

Theodore de Bry created a large number of engraved illustrations for these books. Most of them were based on first hand observations by explorers, even if De Bry himself, acting as a recorder of information, never visited the Americas. To modern eyes, many of the illustrations seem formal but detailed.

He and his son Johan Theodore made adjustments to both the texts and the illustrations of the original accounts, on the one hand in function of his own understanding of Le Moyne's paintings, and, most importantly, to please potential buyers. The Latin and German editions varied strongly, in accordance with the differences in estimated readership. Amerindians look like Mediterranean Europeans and illustrations mix different tribal customs and artefacts. In addition to day-to-day life of the American natives, Theodore de Bry even included a few depictions of cannibalism. All in all, the vast amount of these illustrations and texts influenced the European perception of the New World, Africa, and Asia.

As usual, hundreds of years later, the exactitude of many of the illustrations have been brought into question. Modern archaeologists and historians have noticed a number of misunderstandings, and hence of mistakes. Florida archaeologist Jerald T. Milanich has expressed doubts that Theodore de Bry had really used le Moyne's original paintings, because, according to his sources, most of le Moyne's surviving illustrations are botanical. But perhaps that these botanical illustrations were not bought by De Bry. As the botanical part was left in England, separated from the other illustrations which De Bry took with him, when going back to his family at Frankfurt, Germany, that may contribute to explain this apparent discrepancy.

De Bry continued to publish various volumes until his death in Frankfurt-am-Main on March 27 1598. His sons continued the series until 1634 and expanded to European voyages into Asia. All the books total to 30 volumes. Among other works he engraved a set of twelve plates illustrating the Procession of the Knights of the Garter in 1587, and a set of thirty-four plates illustrating the Procession at the Obsequies of Sir Philip Sidney; plates for Thomas Harriot's Brief and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia (Frankfurt, 1590); the plates for the six volumes of J. J. Boissard's Romanae Urbis Topogrephia et Antiquitates (1597-1602), and a series of portraits entitled Icones Virorum Illustrium (1597-1599). De Bry had been assisted by his two sons, Johan Theodore de Bry (1561-1623) and Johan Israel de Bry (1565-1609) who after their father's death carried on the Collectiones and the illustration of Boissard's work, and also added to the Icones and other significant publications, like Robert Fludd's works on the microcosm and macrocosm.

His work and engravings can today be consulted at the some of the most famous museums around the world, for instance, at Liège, his birthplace, and at Brussels in Belgium. In France, they are housed at the Library of the Marine Historical Service, at the "Château de Vincennes", on the outskirt of Paris. In the USA, there are copies at the Public Library of New York, AT UCLA? California, and more. A simple search on the Internet may perhaps indicate that there is one not far from the corner.

Last but not least, his engravings, which were in black & white have recently been put into colors, which add a new dimension to his masterpieces [Bouyer M. & Duviols J.-P., 1992]

References

• Michiel van Groesen, The Representations of the Overseas World in the De Bry Collection of Voyages (1590-1634) (Leiden/Boston 2008)
• Jerald T. Milanich - The Devil in the Details (Archaeology magazine May/June 2005
• 1986 Exhibition "Les "de Bry", Famille de joailliers-graveurs", at the Museum of the Walloon Life, at Liège, Belgium. http://www.prov-liege.be/culture/musee/mvw.htm
• Bouyer M. & Duviols J.-P., 1992. Le Théâtre du Nouveau Monde: Les grands Voyages de Théodore de Bry. Découvertes Gallimard Albums (Publ.); pp. 228. - ISBN 2-07-056509-2 - (in French)

External links

• Théodore de BRY (Liège, vers 1527 - Francfort, 1598) et ses fils (in French): http://www.wittert.ulg.ac.be/fr/flori/opera/brytheo/brytheo_notice.html
• Birmingham Public Library (Alabama) Grand Voyages prints
• Gallica, la bibliothèque numérique (Bibliothèque nationale de France): Théodore de Bry, Jacques Le Moyne de Morgues and the Timucua Indians
• Theodor de Bry´s Engravings about America
• Johan Theodor de Bry in Rijksmuseum
• Comparison between the watercolours of John White and the subsequent drawings of Theodor de Bry